PHOENIX — A suspect in a series of random shootings in metropolitan Phoenix said Monday that his interest in the investigation led him to keep a map of the shooting locations, but he denied participating in the crimes.
Dale S. Hausner said authorities won't be able to prove the case against him, though his roommate, fellow suspect Samuel John Dieteman, could have committed the crimes without his knowledge.
Also, police said Monday that they are adding one more fatal shooting to the string of attacks under the "Serial Shooter" investigation.
In a jailhouse interview, Hausner said his interest in the investigation led him to collect news clippings about the spree and that he spoke to several people, including Dieteman, about the shootings.
"We just kind of chatted back and forth and wondered why, if there is 150 police on the case, why they couldn't collar him a little bit faster," Hausner said of conversations with Dieteman. "Is it that hard to catch people doing this kind of stuff?"
People are also reading…
Hausner's 11-minute interview ended when his newly appointed public defender, Garrett Simpson, entered the room and whispered that he should stop talking to reporters.
Dieteman and Hausner, who have been jailed since last week, have been booked for investigation on two counts each of first-degree murder and 13 counts each of attempted first-degree murder.
In all, the two were being investigated in 37 shootings in which seven people were killed and 17 were wounded. Other shootings involved animals.
Jail officials said Dieteman declined requests for an interview. Efforts to locate an attorney for Dieteman were unsuccessful.
Hausner said Dieteman was down on his luck, so he let him sleep on an inflatable mattress in his apartment in Mesa. Hausner said he met Dieteman about nine months ago through one of Hausner's brothers.
Hausner said Dieteman could have taken Hausner's car while Hausner was sleeping. Police said several of the shootings were done from a car. Hausner said he owns a handful of shotguns, a rifle, pellet guns, blowguns, knives and stabbing weapons, such as ice picks.
"I don't see Sam as a cold-blooded killer, but if they've got evidence saying he is, there's not much I can do to refute that," Hausner said.
Hausner said he made no incriminating statements to investigators. Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill declined to respond to Hausner's comments.
The case's probable-cause report said police watched the two men as they "suspiciously drove through the areas of prior attacks and slowing in the areas of vagrant activity."
Hausner said he and Dieteman merely drove around to unwind. "There is no law against driving around at night because you are tired and can't sleep," Hausner said.
Hausner said the shootings were a tragedy and noted he lost two sons in a 1994 accident.
"I know what it is like to suffer the loss of a kid, and I would never, ever, ever want anybody to have to go through what I went through," Hausner said.
Dieteman and Hausner first surfaced as suspects in a federal investigation into arsons at two Wal-Mart stores in suburban Glendale that were started roughly 45 minutes apart.
Hausner said he was with Dieteman at the stores but never participated in the arsons, nor did he see Dieteman start a fire. Court records filed by federal investigators say video footage at both stores show two men who appear to be Dieteman and Hausner near the areas of the fires.
In the additional shooting added to the overall investigation, Hill said the May 17, 2005, killing of Tony Mendez, 39, hasn't been connected to Hausner or Dieteman.
If the shooting of Mendez is connected to the Serial Shooter case, that would make him the first victim.
Previously, police believed the first victim was 56-year-old Reginald Remillard, who was fatally shot while sleeping at a bus stop. Mendez was shot while riding his bicycle.
Police also have been searching for another serial predator in the Phoenix area. The so-called "Baseline Killer" is believed to have killed eight people and sexually assaulted several women since last August.
